As much as the others seemed to be enjoying their free cake, it just tasted bittersweet to Conan. Well, it was kind of hard to enjoy it when he was sitting right next to Jodie of all people. He would have preferred Sonoko even. Clearly, his plan to stay unnoticed hadn't worked. It was unfortunate but he didn't expect it actually would, and it could be a whole lot worse. Firstly, there was the fact that he was in a public place and Jodie couldn't do anything without attracting attention, something he kept mentally repeating to himself in an attempt to calm down. He couldn't tell if that was working, or if it was more of the other thing. Yes, Jodie had acknowledged his presence a few times, but nothing more than that. She wasn't trying to bring him into the conversation or staring at him creepily like she usually would. He appreciated it and made being in her presence slightly more bearable, but it made him uneasy. It seemed almost intentional, since it was so different than her usual.

"So, what did you wanna talk to us about?" Sonoko asked Jodie through a mouthful of cake.

Conan had only been half listening to their conversation to lessen his mental load, but this he was interested in.

"Have you guys run into any stalkers lately?" Jodie cut to the chase.

Ran and Sonoko just blinked for a second, both lifting an eyebrow. Clearly they were as confused by the question as he was.

"A stalker..?" Sonoko repeated.

"Yes! I've heard a lot of the Teitan students complaining about it!"

Ran and Sonoko shared a glance between them.

"We haven't had any, right?" Ran asked.

"Yeah." Sonoko nodded. "Besides, if there were any, Ran would just beat them up."

"Oh! Like a bodyguard!" Jodie cheered, but her bubbly demeanor quickly became far more true and serious. "But please be careful." She said with a low voice. "Sometimes they target you persistently until you reach home and then wait for a chance to strike... They're a very very scary stalker, like a demon..."

Conan felt a chill go up his spine. If it was anyone other than Jodie saying that, it would sound cheesy. But, since it was her, it didn't sound like she was talking about a stalker, but rather herself.. or a Black Organization member. But, why on earth would she warn them about that? He couldn't even think of any benefit it would give her. It was just very strange.

"If that happened my security guard would throw them out." Sonoko said, not seeming to pick up the change in mood.

"And we haven't seen anyone like that around us, right Conan?"

Conan nearly flinched at the sudden attention. "Uh, yeah."

"Well, call me if you do! The Japanese are so lax with stalkers, but I'll deal with them the American way!"


And Conan wasn't even given a chance to try to enjoy his two free desserts from Sonoko when a blackout occurred and a guy got murdered just minutes later. (But he will remember that. He's getting his end of the deal one way or another.) He was a little disappointed really. After the busjacking and resulting emotional turmoil, the crimes he had ran into had been relatively nonlethal, so it was sad to see the streak be broken. And it didn't seem to be an easy one either. The man had left possibly the most nonsensical dying message to date: a square (which he had only found until later since it was cut off from the rest), a circle, an x, and a triangle. They kept bouncing ideas off each other (including Ran's suggestion that the x was the same from Jodie's lesson, which they had a good laugh about) but, in the end, got nowhere. It was even harder trying to solve the message when the forensics officers kept shooing him out of the crime scene, and annoying too. He thought he had built up enough credibility for this to stop happening.

For what felt like the hundredth time now, some generic officer picked him up by the scruff of his shirt and harshly deposited him outside of the police tape. He couldn't help the irritated grumbling as he sulked away.

"Hey, cool kid!" Jodie suddenly said, startling him. "You're like an ostrich!"

While he didn't feel as scared of Jodie today because of her slightly less overbearing attitude and the presence of the police, it didn't mean he was comfortable. Although he might be more confused than scared at the moment. "An ostrich..?"

"Did you figure out what those four symbols mean?" And she didn't even give him an answer...

"No, not yet." He replied meekly.

"Maybe it's like Mouri-san said - they represent something with their shapes?" She suggested, then didn't even give him a chance to respond. "Like the US's department of defense, the Pentagon!" Conan felt the confusion grow - he really didn't know what she was trying to get at. "Or like the White house or Oval office! Or even.." she paused, "the FBI." She dropped the cheery tone and replaced it with a serious one like she did earlier. It was really creepy. "The Federal Bureau of Investigation. Was that helpful?" She asked, back to the cheery tone.

"Um, y-yeah..." It really wasn't, but what else could he say. "What did you mean by ostrich?" He asked. He was really curious.

"Oh! When you hid behind that box but the officer still found you! Clumsy people like that are called ostriches. See, isn't there a proverb in Japan like that - 'Don't cover your head and the leave the bottom exposed'?"

'Cover the top...'

Conan mulled over her words for a second then gasped. Putting Jodie aside, he rushed back into the crime scene and looked back at the dying message, noticing how the square was larger than the other shapes and the torn off top part of the envelope.

He felt as if he should be more scared and hesitant to show his intellect so clearly to Jodie, but he had to accept that she already knew. With his actions during the busjacking and other previous cases, it would be pointless to try and hide it. Finishing up this case and getting away from her was the top priority right now.

Now all he needed to do was look through the suspect list and find the culprit.


Going back to vaguely hinting at the culprit with childish antics was really annoying when he knew he could just tell Takagi and get it over much quicker, but he knew he shouldn't. Telling Takagi and having him solve it could potentially draw Jodie's suspicion onto him, and he just couldn't do that to him. Since Jodie already knew about him, it was better to keep her attention on him rather than divert it to someone else, as much as he didn't want to.

But, the case wasn't what he was worried about, it was Jodie's strange actions she had shown throughout the day.

Conan had never really considered the idea of Jodie not being Vermouth too much because she was so suspicious, but that seed of doubt had grown far too large to ignore. The way she seemed to be more considerate of his feelings today by not putting attention on him; how she had helped him solve the case by giving hints, something he recognized very well (although he was still a little unsure why she brought up all the US stuff, especially the FBI - the others at least had symbolic names); the way she was alway so obvious about what she knew about Conan and that she was interested in him; and how Vermouth, a blonde foreign woman, would be disguising as just another blonde foreign woman, something he had forgotten about in the midst of the busjacking commotion. It just didn't make sense. All of this stuff he would never expect from a Black Organization member - he would think they'd be much more secretive and uncaring than that.

There were just too many inconsistencies. And it didn't feel right to have Jodie be the prime suspect when someone possibly far more suspicious was in play, that man from the busjacking. Watching Conan from the shadows and disguising as someone opposite of your appearance was much more careful and like the organization, compared to whatever Jodie was doing.

But, Vermouth could easily be doing all that just to throw him off - Haibara did say she was very unpredictable. Jodie was still definitely a top suspect, but he couldn't just decide it was her when he still had a bus full of suspects.

He could treat this like the usual case. When he had doubts he just had to investigate until they went away or he found a new suspect, and investigating was something he could do.

Conan went to school the next day feeling a lot lighter. It seemed all he needed was a change of mindset. The threat of Vermouth was still very large, but now he felt like he could do something, now he had some control.

The detective boys had immediately noticed. As soon as they laid eyes on him, they broke out into small cheer and began high-fiving with each other and the like.

"Yes! One down!" Genta pumped his fist into the air.

"Now all that's left is Haibara!" Mitsuhiko said.

Okay, he figured they'd be glad he was happier now, but this was a bit much. "What are you guys doing?" He asked.

"You and Hiabara have been so sad lately." Ayumi answered. "We've been trying to cheer you up all week, but it never worked. But now you're smiling!"

"Oh, yeah..."

Thinking back, he supposed it was obvious what they were doing. He was just too sad to care or even wonder why they were acting so different. They clearly cared about him and were trying so hard, yet he didn't even care...

"So, what happened?" Genta asked.

"Oh, uh, nothing much." He deflected.

He couldn't exactly tell them what actually happened; it would require a lot of explanation and he just didn't want them involved in the first place. But, he wasn't lying. All the trauma was still there, he just removed a bit of the stress from the Vermouth situation. Apparently that was enough.

Thankfully the detective boys didn't pry.

"Do you know if Haibara is too..?" Mitsuhiko asked.

Conan shrugged. "I haven't really seen her lately."

On cue, the classroom door opened and Haibara walked in. Mitsuhiko's question was immediately answered. She still looked far from better. Her expression was relatively neutral, but her mouth was pulled into an even tighter frown and she just exuded a depressive feeling.

"Oh..." Mitsuhiko said dejectedly.

The disappointed mood quickly spread to the others.

Ayumi sighed. "We just don't know what to do."

"We don't even know what she likes! Other than sciency stuff..." Mitsuhiko shrugged.

"Which didn't work." Genta grumbled.

Mitsuhiko suddenly straightened up and pointed at Conan. "But you seem to know her better than us! Do you know anything?" There was a small flicker of hope in his eyes.

"Hmm..." Conan trailed off in thought, the others looking at him expectantly. He could do that. All he needed was something she liked. Something.. she liked... "I.. don't know." He said in startling realization.

He'd known Haibara for how long? And, Mitsuhiko was right, he was probably one of the closest to her, second to Agasa, since he knew her situation. Yet he couldn't think of a single thing she liked? All he could think of was coffee, but he doubted that that could even come close to solving any of her problems or improving her mood, and she already had well enough of it at home.

The depressive atmosphere quickly came back since the detective boys had just lost their only hope.

"But, I can try to think of something." He said in an attempt to lighten things up. I only marginally worked.

He glanced behind him at Haibara. She was in her seat just quietly reading something as if the detective boys weren't even there. Clearly, her mood didn't change in the minute he was looking away. He hadn't noticed before but she was wearing a pink hair clip on the side of her head, pulling some of her bangs away. It looked very girly and unlike Haibara but he figured that was the point. Throughout the week she had been wearing her hair in slightly different styles, like a ponytail or what she was currently doing, and he had realized it was a feeble attempt at a disguise.

He had been a bit too preoccupied with his own issues to really notice, but the busjacking had really affected her too. It made him feel a little stupid, because of course it would - she was the one who tried to commit suicide. Although he didn't want to, he could admit he was still way too young to understand why (dying was scary, why would anyone willingly do that), but he could still understand a little of her feelings. He knew why she kept trying to disguise. She told him a while ago that the organization knew her from childhood, so a member could easily recognize her and realize the truth about APTX 4869. If they found out who she was now involved with, they would kill everyone before the next day even started. He could imagine that would be hard to deal with.

But maybe that was good. The fact that they were all still alive, so long after the busjacking, was a clear sign that didn't happen, and that Vermouth hadn't realized she was on the bus. Plus, the organization hasn't found her so far, so why would that suddenly change. However, he knew that wouldn't magically erase her fears. If those pitiful disguises made her feel even a little better, then why should he try to stop her.

...And that gave him an idea. Maybe she just needed a better one.


Conan huffed as he set down the two crates with a heavy thud. They only had clothes in them, but it was still exhausting for a child to carry them all the way from Shinichi's attic to Agasa's living room. He took a second to catch his breath as he stared down at them. He'd been meaning to search through Shinichi's attic for his old child clothes for a while now, he just never had the time or an excuse to. Although, now, it didn't really have a point - Ran had already bought him all the clothes he needed shortly after his move into the Mouri's. Rather he should've done this before then, but the clothes weren't actually what he needed. He looked down at the second crate. It had a little bit of normal clothes, but the majority of it was filled with what he actually needed: hats.

Agasa, having heard his entrance, looked up from whatever gadget he was tinkering with and saw the crates. "Hm? What do you have there, Conan-kun?"

Conan internally thanked Agasa for starting that conversation. It was the perfect way to subtly hint at Haibara. She was blankly reading some book on the couch and she made no indication that she cared.

"Clothes from Shinichi's attic." He answered. Agasa lifted an eyebrow in question. "Why make Ran buy me more clothes when I can just steal from Shinichi?"

This Haibara reacted to, although she only looked up for a second.

"I see." Agasa said. "Oh, you've got a lot of hats there."

Conan internally cheered. That was perfect! He wondered if Agasa knew his plan or if he could read minds or something. "Yeah." He said nonchalantly, hiding his excitement. "Shinchi had a lot. I figured they'd be good for a quick disguise at least."

He quickly looked at Haibara and was surprised to see she was too. Though, her look didn't appear to be a good one, a glare if anything. "I hope you realize the organization could get suspicious if they notice that's gone." She said coldly.

Oh. Of course. She was quite paranoid, even more than him.

He coughed. "But haven't they stopped monitoring his house?"

"We can never be sure."

Conan irritatedly sighed. He knew she was just being over paranoid, but really it wasn't that serious. "Even if they do notice it won't matter. They'll just think I'm some kid taking Shinichi's old clothes." Which is exactly what he was. "It'll be fine."

Haibara closed her book. "You remember that's exactly how I became suspicious of you in the first place, right?"

Damn, she was right. He wanted to argue back, but forced himself to tamper down his anger. He wasn't supposed to be arguing with her, rather the exact opposite. He sighed, conceding. "I can put them back if you want."

"No, they'd still notice it was moved. You've already done the damage."

Well, fine then.

He looked back down at the crates. He might as well get back to the original topic. He picked up one of the hats, a barrette with a bow on it. "I think I got too many of these anyway. A lot of them are Yukiko's, too girly for me." He sent a pointed glance to Haibara, but she was back to reading her book like nothing happened. He felt another spike of irritation, but he figured he should've expected this. People don't just get over their fears overnight. Helping her is going to take a whole lot longer. He sighed and picked up one of the crates. "I'll go wash this then." He said with poorly disguised dejection and headed to the laundry room.


Trying to help Haibara, Conan discovered, was like pulling teeth. Every idea he had, as little as there were, failed spectacularly as if Haibara herself was actively thwarting his plans herself.

One day while he was looking through Shinichi's house again, he found a pile of money hidden in Shinichi's room - it seemed to be some left over allowance. He felt a little bad for taking it, but he figured the Kudos wouldn't miss it and it wasn't like Shinichi was even there to use it (besides, it was probably Yusaku's money rather than something Shinichi earned himself). And it just so happened to be enough for a haircut and dye job at a local and well trusted hairdresser. He brought up the idea to Haibara but she had just glared at him and said, "I like my hair." And so, he gave up on the idea.

Conan had tried going back to the hat idea. He found even more hats and other accessories that could be used for a disguise, and kept not so subtly hinting at Haibara. ("This hat blocks out the sun really well." or "It's getting a bit cold out, maybe I should wear a scarf." or "I think this would look nice on you." or "Wow it's really bright out, sunglasses would be nice.") She would either reply with something like "That looks horrible." or with nothing at all. He left them in places that he knew Haibara would often be, but they were either not touched or relocated to a much more unsavory place, like the floor. And so, he also gave up on that idea.

He even entertained the idea of coffee, but he had secretly looked through her stash and found that she already had many bags of an expensive coffee brand, one of the best coffee makers on the market, and other expensive equipment.

Conan and the detective boys had no ideas left and were sufficiently on their last legs.

Agasa's friend's son - Kanou Teruya - was moving out and had a ton of antiques to give away. Agasa had invited all the detective boys, and that was their last hope. If this didn't work, they didn't know what to do. Fortunately, it was seeming to have a good start. The fact that Haibara even agreed to come was a good sign.

The detective boys were all waiting for Agasa and Haibara to get back from the parking area with nervous excitement, busying themselves with Kanou's dog, who was named Arthur, by the way. And yes, the owner did say the name came from Arthur Conan Doyle. Honestly Conan didn't know how to feel about that. One hand there was the childish excitement over meeting another Sherlock fan, but on the other, there was the thought that he was named something that could potentially be a dog's name. (Although he didn't think his parents named him Conan because of Arthur Conan Doyle - Conan was still a normal name after all, even if it wasn't all too common. Actually, did he even know why his parents named him Conan?) At least he chose the Arthur part of the name - it was a slightly more plausible dog name than Doyle or, god forbid, Conan.

But that wasn't important. A sudden shift in the detective boys' attention drew him away from the dog and towards Agasa and Haibara's arrival. She certainly didn't look good, but it wasn't any different than how she had been the past week. The others went over to try and welcome her or something, but were cut off when Arthur suddenly lunged at the two and began furiously barking. Kanou was worried, but after an explanation from Conan that Arthur probably smelled the presence of another dog on them and thought they were enemies, the issue was quickly resolved.

"A dangerous foe, huh..?" Haibara sighed. Even though it was quiet, the detective boys immediately focused on her - it was the first time she spoke since the start of this visit. "In my case that might not be much of a misunderstanding." She finished with a despondent smile.

Clearly this was not what they were hoping for. An awkward atmosphere formed as they just stared at Haibara worriedly.

"Haibara-san..?" Mitsuhiko ventured to say.

"I'm just joking." She said, seemingly as uncaring as usual, then walked off.

Clearly she was not joking.

The detective boys all formed together into a huddle formation.

"Does she seem worse to anyone else..?" Mitsuhiko whispered, glancing around at each of them.

The downcast looks on their faces said that they all agreed.

"Yeah." Conan eventually said. "Even when she's sad she never says stuff like that."

"Then what can we do..?" Genta grumbled.

The hopelessness was starting to return.

"Maybe we shouldn't have tried to force her to come..." Conan said, resigned.

"No." Ayumi said with sudden resolve. The others looked at her curiously. "We're not letting this stop us. This just means we have to try even harder..!"

Ayumi's words seemed to have an immediate effect on the others. They all nodded in agreement, the hopelessness being replaced with determination. Everyone (except for Conan) put their hands in the center in some sort of handshake, as if they were a sports team preparing for a big game, then went inside after the others.

However, the moment they saw all the toys and other antiques, they seemed to have forgotten all about their main mission. Conan just felt exasperated.

Neither Conan or Haibara participated in all the excitement over the toys with the others, probably for similar reasons. Conan still felt a low lingering of exhaustion from just.. everything, and was only mildly interested in the antiques. Everything was going normally, until Kanou introduced another dog.

He was named Doyle.

Conan felt like taking back all he previously said about this man's dog name choices.

"Since there's an Arthur and a Doyle, is there a Conan too?" He asked Kanou. Half of him wanted the answer to be yes, and the other wanted it to be no. He couldn't decide which option was worse.

"Ah, my father had a Shepherd named Conan, but it died 2 years ago because of an illness."

Oh. Somehow that was worse than both of those options.

"I- I see..."

The adults began talking again, and the kids went back to the toys. Conan lazily looked around the room, cataloging the items to see if there was anything he or Haibara might want - he didn't find anything. At some point Doyle was passed off into Haibara's arms. If she felt anything about that, she didn't show it.

"Haibara-san!" Ayumi came up to her. "You should get something too!" She cheerfully suggested. At least one of them was still trying.

"Yeah!" Mitsuhiko agreed, following after Ayumi.

"There's losta good stuff here!" Genta said.

"Hm, true..." Haibara surprisingly agreed. She has a small smile on her face, but it wasn't a happy one. "Maybe I'll take this one then." She looked down at Doyle in her arms. "If I vanish as the dew of the guillotine, like Marie Antoinette, maybe this dog, like hers, will throw itself into the Seine River after me."

The silence was palpable.

The detective boys didn't seem to understand much of what she said (its not like French history was covered in Teitan's first grade curriculum) but they could still tell it wasn't positive.

It was Kanou who first spoke. "She's a weird girl, huh..." He quietly said to Agasa, but not quiet enough to go unheard.

"Haha, yeah..." Agasa just awkwardly laughed.

The other detective boots grouped together again, though Conan wasn't close enough to join. He caught the tail end of Mitsuhiko's whisper, "...worse than we thought..." as Agasa bent down to Conan.

"It was really difficult to get Ai-kun to come." Agasa whispered, worry clear in his voice. "She didn't even want to leave the house ever since the busjacking, and she hasn't been sleeping or eating well lately..." Conan looked down, crestfallen. It really was worse than they thought. "Is there anything you can do to cheer her up or..?" He asked.

Conan clenched his fists and restrained an irritated huff. "I've been trying to for the past week..!" He bit out, sounding more angry than he intended.

Agasa just looked down, even more disheartened. "Is there really nothing..?"

"I don't know..." His shoulders slumped down, similar to how his hopes steadily falling. "If this doesn't work, we don't..." He trailed off. "I can try though..." He measly shrugged.

Agasa didn't say anything but he could tell his hopes weren't too high either.

Conan left Agasa and walked over to Haibara. "Really though," he began, catching her attention, "you should try to find something." She just gave him a questioning look. "When else will we get another chance like this? There's more rooms too." He gestured to the door.

If Haibara was considering the offer, he wouldn't know it. Her face remained as unexpressive as ever. After a second of her just looking at him, she set Doyle back down.

Conan internally celebrated, taking that as a yes. Without any more words, he turned around and headed toward the door, hoping she would follow, and surprisingly she did.

He led them to one of the rooms next over. He stopped at the entrance without heading further in, so neither did Haibara. Right next to the door was a large rack of hats. Even though he gave up on the idea, he couldn't help but give it another shot.

He picked up some fancy looking hat from the rack and turned it around in his hands. "Wow, this looks expensive." He said, trying to sound offhanded.

He glanced at Haibara. While her expression was, if anything, a bit more sharp, it didn't give anything away, which was why her reply was so surprising. "Would you stop that." She said with thinly veiled anger.

He was so taken aback that all he could manage was a squeaky, "Huh?" The hat was now held limply by his side.

"You keep trying to get me to wear hats and other stuff." Her expression was starting to become more harsh. "It's really annoying."

Conan felt like he just took a punch to the stomach. He sputtered. Her response was so far from what he expected that he was at a near complete loss for words.

Conan took a breath. He needed a moment to recenter his thoughts. Maybe honesty would work best with her. "I mean," he nervously began, looking to the side instead of at her, "you've been wearing your hair differently this whole week, and I just thought that.. maybe you could use a better disguise..." His pitch lilted up at the end as if it was a question. He sheepishly scratched at his cheek.

"Well I don't." She curtly replied.

"I- we just want to help." His voice sounded much smaller than he wanted.

A slight narrowing of her eyes was just about the only indication of her mood. "I don't need or want your help." She turned around and looked over her shoulder. "Please don't patronize me." She walked out of the door, leaving him behind.

Conan just hung the hat back on the rack in defeat.


Doyle went missing.

There was a scare that he had been burnt in the incinerator, but since Conan had only found his collar and no corpse along with it, they had quickly realized he was okay. Conan felt like he should be having fun. There were no stakes, no one had been killed or hurt, so this was just a fun harmless mystery for him to solve. He's been wanting that for a while, so really he should be having fun, but he just felt empty.

He had been close before, but how he had fully given up. Helping Haibara seemed impossible now. How could you help someone who didn't even want it? So, instead he focused on finding Doyle. That at least he could do.

Along with hopelessness, another emotion was building up inside him. With each depressed look or forlorn sigh Haibara gave, he felt a spike of irritation. He didn't realize it, but it had began to reach it's threshold.

After another failed attempt at finding Doyle, Ayumi had an innocent comment. "I feel sorry for Doyle." She said with a sad look on her face. "He must be hiding and shivering in fear somewhere."

Then Haibara said, "Hiding and shivering in fear. Fear that you may be found out one day. It truly is harsh..."

The detective boys just gave her a worried look before turning back to each other, but Conan felt something within him snap.

He stomped over to her and whispered, "Would you stop that?" The only reply she gave was a slightly angry looking lift of an eyebrow. "You've just been sulking all day..!"

Haibara huffed. "I don't see why you aren't either."

"Huh?"

"You know Vermouth was on that bus." She elaborated. "If she's that English teacher like you say, then she definitely knows about you. What if she saw me - what if she figured me out?" There was an edge of panic to her voice, but right now Conan couldn't care.

"Of course I'm scared..!" He bit out, making sure not to raise his voice much higher than a whisper. "I'm just not all hung up about it like you are."

At this point it felt like his words were just spewing out without a single thought to stop them.

Haibara grit her teeth. "I don't think you understand how dangerous this-"

"No..!" Conan interrupted. "I think you're the one who doesn't understand. It's been how many days since the bus jacking? Yet we're all fine. Clearly Vermouth doesn't plan on doing anything and clearly she hasn't figured you out..!" He had to make a conscious effort to keep his voice low as anger overtook him. "So can you just get over it already..!"

Haibara's eyes widened slightly.

As soon as the words left his mouth, he realized what he just said - and how incredibly insensitive it was.

He just stood in shock for a few seconds, over how he would let himself say something like that, and how on earth he was going to rectify it.

"Sorry." Conan quickly said. All the anger he had previously felt was now replaced with guilt. "I didn't mean that."

That probably wasn't close to being a good apology, but he just didn't know what else to say.

The atmosphere was becoming more awkward and constricting by the second.

He felt horrible, but even moreso tired. He didn't want to deal with the consequences so he just didn't. Conan turned around and left.


In the end, Doyle was found behind a speaker. One of the other guests had hidden him to steal the jewel on his collar later. Conan figured it out pretty quick since he decided to focus on that rather than Haibara. He was hoping that maybe things will sort themselves out on their own, or Haibara won't care to mention it again. Her expression didn't even seem to change and she made no point to try and talk to him (and neither did he) so he couldn't really tell.

There was one last thing that needed to be solved - one of the guest's shoes going missing - but that was solved fairly quickly too. Arthur had hidden them simply because he didn't want the owner to leave. Kanou had gotten mad for a bit, thinking Arthur had played a prank, but things were resolved quickly.

Although, the dog was still cowering and hiding behind Haibara.

She smiled down at him. It wasn't sad like her earlier smiles, but genuine. "Silly." She chuckled. "No one's mad anymore. You can relax." She leaned down and began softly petting him.

Conan just felt relieved. She was smiling! She was happy! Things had actually turned out alright!

The detective boys had been watching her too, and of course realized what this meant. "Yes!" They all cheered and ran up to Haibara, who startled and looked at them in both surprise and confusion.

"We finally did it!" Mitsuhiko excitedly shouted.

"We were so worried!" Ayumi whined. "You've been so gloomy lately."

"We've been trying to cheer you up and none of it worked, but now it did!" Genta bent down and pat Arthur a couple times. "Good job Arthur!"

So Haibara liked animals then. He'll keep that in mind.

Looking at Haibara 's soft smile, Conan realized something.

"Y'know," he walked over next to her, "I don't think you even need a disguise at all. If you keep that look, everyone will just think you're a normal kid."